The God Contention - Kyle Runge

Clearly bible was written by homo-sapiens. who are we to say that bible was not written by some dude in his/her free time describing why the universe is the way it is, thus creating this fictional dude in heaven. All this could be science fiction

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 02:19:39 -0400

Answered from the perspective of multiple worldviews

Christian - Kyle Runge
This is an INCREDIBLY common line of reasoning in our society today. To my mind, though, there are two fundamental issues that have to be addressed before we can take a meaningful stab at answering the heart of this assertion:

1) While it's absolutely true that God used human authors, their languages, vocabulary, and styles in recording the message of scripture for us - it does not logically follow from this that the words of scripture are of solely human origin in a similar way to the existence of of musicians, playing with their own styles, techniques, and backgrounds in ...

I highly doubt that Africans are descendants of Adam and Eve so, where do we come from?

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 23:29:54 -0400

Answered from the perspective of multiple worldviews

Christian - Kyle Runge
According to the Bible ALL people are descended from Adam and Eve - the first man and woman. We are told they multiplied and filled the earth but, because of their unceasing wickedness, all but Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives, were destroyed in a globe covering flood. So, more specifically than Adam and Eve even, we can say that all people alive today are descended from Noah and his family.

Further, Genesis 10 gives us a few generations of the children, grand-children, and great-grand-children of Noah's sons*. From this list we can see that among his son Ham's...

Do humans have goodness in them?

Wed, 12 May 2021 17:05:16 -0400

Answered from the perspective of multiple worldviews

Christian - Kyle Runge
Humans DO have what we might identify as goodness in them, but unfortunately that's not the ringing endorsement it might seem. Scripture tells us that man was originally created very good and that we were made in God's image. Since God is perfectly good, this image bearer purpose manifests itself in acts of what would be called goodness in the common vernacular; we (tend to be) kind to children, we (usually) don't kill people that irritate us, we long for peace in the world.

All of these things are good things. The place where Christianity divides with most other religions co...

How do you deal with you having an arrogant and boastful God who claims everything is made from just him and only him?

Mon, 01 Apr 2019 11:16:52 -0400

Answered within the Christian worldview by Kyle Runge

At first blush many of what's known as the "I AM" statements in scripture do seem to be breathtakingly self centered or even downright ego-maniacal: "I am the way, the truth, and the life...", "Besides me there is no God...", "There is none like me...", or even, "Worship the Lord your God and serve him only."

We read these and can be brought up short by them so to speak. Who dares to speak in this way? Surely such a person would be the height of arrogance if we, as part of our ordinary everyday experience, ran into anyone in the street ...

Instead of "sacrificing" himself on the cross, why didn't god just forgive us, rather than going through this awful rigmarole?

Mon, 14 Jan 2019 07:35:20 -0500

Answered within the Christian worldview by Kyle Runge

Great question. There's a lot to unpack here but much of it boils down to the difference between what it means for us to forgive someone personally versus someone being pardoned legally. The short answer is that Jesus died a self-sacrificial death on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.

To back up for a minute though and set some context: God is the only one who can forgive sins, because it is first and foremost Him that sins are committed against in an ultimate sense (since it His law is the highest authority that they break). God, in His Mercy is willing t...

In the Bible we are asked to be more like Christ. We can definitely try but will never be able to be like Him. In Genesis the snake tempted Adam/Eve telling them that if they ate the fruit they will be like God. How do you explain this to a 6 yo boy?

Fri, 11 Jan 2019 10:43:20 -0500

Answered within the Christian worldview by Kyle Runge

English is a funny language, isn't it? We have all kinds of words that sound the same, or sometimes are even spelled the same, but can still mean different things. This causes lots of clever people, like computer developers and inquisitive 6 year-olds, all kinds of problems. One classic example is the observation, "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana."

You'll have to tailor this somewhat based on your little boy's familiarity with Scripture, but, in much the same way as this somewhat silly phrase, the word "like" in your young friend's...